At a news conference in Tehran on Wednesday, held jointly with his Russian
counterpart, Salehi said: "The two meetings held [in Istanbul in April 2012 and
in Baghdad in May 2012] were on the right track, and we hope that the Moscow
meeting will also proceed in a constructive way."

Lavrov visited Iran just days ahead of talks scheduled for June 18 in Moscow,
meeting with Minister Salehi as well as Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear
negotiator and head of the Supreme Council of National Security.

While the details of Lavrov's meeting with Jalili were not publicized, both
the Russian and Iranian foreign ministers were upbeat about the prospects for
the coming Moscow talks.

Lavrov said: "If the international community takes a serious stance that is
reflected in the Security Council's resolutions, then the case is clear; on the
other hand, unilateral sanctions are not constructive."

He added: "The unanimous stance of the international community is clear in the
Security Council's resolutions. We believe it is wrong to fail the demands of
these resolutions; however, we also believe that if there has been a group
decision, there must be no unilateral action.

Iran has not so far complied with the UN resolution demands to suspend its
uranium enrichment program.

The Iranian Foreign Minister stressed the positive direction of the talks and
called for patience in bringing the negotiations to fruition.